Soul and Mind in Greek Thought. Psychological Issues in Plato and Aristotle

This book offers new insights into the workings of the human soul and the philosophical conception of the mind in Ancient Greece. It collects essays that deal with different but interconnected aspects of that unified picture of our mental life shared by all Ancient philosophers who thought of the soul as an immaterial substance.

The papers present theoretical discussions on moral and psychological issues ranging from Socrates to Aristotle, and beyond, in connection with modern psychology. Coverage includes moral learning and the fruitfulness of punishment, human motivation, emotions as psychic phenomena, and more.

Some of these topics directly stemmed from the Socratic dialectical experience and its tragic outcome, whereas others found their way through a complex history of refinements, disputes, and internal critique. The contributors present the gradual unfolding of these central themes through a close inspection of the relevant Ancient texts. They deliver awide-ranging survey of some central and mutually related topics. In the process, readers will learn new approaches to Platonic and Aristotelian psychology and action theory.

This book will appeal to graduate students and researchers in Ancient philosophy. Any scholar with a general interest in the history of ideas will also find it a valuable resource.

Autorentext
Marcelo D. Boeri is full professor and researcher at the Philosophy Institute, Pontifical Catholic University (Chile). His main areas of interest are focused on psychology, moral psychology, and epistemology in Plato, Aristotle, and Stoicism. He has published papers in scientific journals, chapters of books, and books on these authors as well as annotated Spanish translations of Plato (Charmides, Theaetetus, Philebus), Aristotle (Physics I-II; VII-VIII. On the Soul), and the Early and Middle Stoicism.
Yasuhira Y. Kanayama is full professor and researcher at Nagoya University (Japan). His main interest lies in Plato's epistemology and methodology, and also in Ancient Scepticism. He has published numerous papers especially on Plato, and Japanese translations of all the works of Sextus Empiricus (with Mariko Kanayama), Aristotle, On Coming-to-be and Passing-away, and of such academic books as A.A. Long, Hellenistic Philosophy, and J. Barnes and J. Annas, The Modes of Scepticism.
Jorge Mittelmann is associate professor and researcher at the Philosophy Institute, University of the Andes (Chile). His research is centered on Aristotle's psychology (and its reception within the Peripatetic and Neoplatonic traditions), logic and ontology. He has published several papers and chapters of books on these and other related topics as well as an annotated Spanish translation of Aristotle's Categories and On Interpretation.

Inhalt
Chapter 1. General Introduction (Marcelo D. Boeri).- Part I. Plato.- Chapter 2. The Beauty and the Beast: Tragedy and Dialog in Plato's Philosophy (Barbara Botter).- Chapter 3. Socrates on Punishment and the Law: Apology 25c5-26b2 (Thomas Brickhouse).- Chapter 4. Why didn't Socrates Escape? (Mariko Kanayama).- Chapter 5. Plato's Wax Tablet (Yasuhira Y. Kanayama).- Chapter 6. Politics of the Soul in Plato's Republic (Iván De los Ríos).- Part II. Plato, Aristotle, and Commentators on Aristotle.- Chapter 7. Platonic Souls in the Cave: Can they be just Rational? (Ivana Costa).- Chapter 8. Plato and Aristotle on what is Common to Body and Soul. Some Remarks on a Complicated Issue (Marcelo D. Boeri).- Chapter 9. The Causal Structure of Emotions in Aristotle: Hylomorphism, Causal Interaction Between Mind and Body, and Intentionality (Gabriela Rossi).- Chapter 10. Dissimilarity Between Moral Excellence and Art: An Interpretation of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics II 4 (Javier Echeñique).- Chapter 11. To Be Handled with Care: Alexander on Nature as a Passive Power (Jorge Mittelmann).- Chapter 12. The Notion of Human Soul in Themistius (Manuel Correia).